Amendments to the Federal Courts Rules have been registered based on proposed amendments published back in 2016. These amendments include (1) increases to the monetary limit for prothonotaries and for simplified actions; (2) provide for excerpts in books of authorities; (3) a timeline for filing of books of authorities in appeals; (4) condensed appeal books; (5) establishing a “Notice of Intention to Respond” and standardize the timeline for filing a defence for defendants who are served in either Canada or the United States; and (6) clarifying the material to be contained in an applicant’s record.

The amendments were originally published for consultation in the Canada Gazette in November 2016 but not all the proposed changes are included in the amendments – for example Rule 151.

Some key amendments include:

• increasing jurisdiction limits to $100k for prothonotories and simplified procedure from $50k – Rule 50(2) and (3), Rule 292(a)
• only excerpts of publicly available authorities need to be included in hardcopy books of authority – Rule 70(2.1) and 348(3.1)
• aligning the 30-day deadline for delivery of a defence for both Canada and the United States and creating a “Notice of Intention to Defend” procedure that extends the deadline by 10-days – Rule 204 and 204.1
• preliminary objections without attorning to the jurisdiction – Rule 208
• codifying condensed books/compendia on appeals – Rule 348.1

See amendments (in PDF).